Archive for May, 2009

Here’s some stuff I’ve made in 2006 for Open Season GBA, a cute platformer based on the movie of the same name. An interesting aspect of this project was that the backgrounds were based on paintings by Eyvind Earle (the amazing artist who did the backgrounds for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty).

Below: the background of the first level. The big truck is a courtesy of Stéphane Boutin, the hunter was made by Justin Cyr, and everything else is from me.

(Click on the image to see a full size version.)

I worked mostly on backgrounds, but I also did the menus and the in-game interface.

Since I’ve been working on a big design document for the last two weeks, I decided to practice my pixel art a bit. So, here’s a little ninja… It could probably be improved though. Walk/run cycles are so hard to do!

EDIT: Here’s an updated version with a new colour. I altered the timing a bit and made small changes to the feet and the scarf.

It’s been precisely 1 year and 4 months since the time I left Ubisoft. And now, I’m back…

I’m not abandoning my game projects! I will indeed have to put my shmup project on hold for a year, but it’s for a very good reason. Ubisoft acquired the rights to make a game based on a license that I really love. They offered me a job as game designer, so I took the opportunity!

I can’t reveal anything about this project right now. Ubisoft hasn’t announced it yet, so it’s top secret. However, I can assure you that it fits my experience and tastes perfectly. If we can make it to the end of the production process, this project might become the best game I will have worked on.

From now on, I’ll be working full time at Ubisoft until the end of the production of the game. However, I’ll still update my blog every week. Also, I have another small project I’m working on right now and that I haven’t talked about yet. I’ll reveal more about it soon, so stay tuned!

High Gears is a top-down racer I’ve worked on at Gameloft in 2003. It was also the first time I assumed the role of game designer. The game was supposed to feature realistic visuals, licensed cars, and arcade physics. Unfortunately, even though we had a working prototype, the advent of 3D on cell phones lead to cancellation of the project in favor of a 3D racer.

I’ve also done a bunch of pixel art (for backgrounds and menus), but the cars were made by Justin Cyr, while Randy Van Der Vlag gave me a hand on some background elements and Chalotte Niedzviecki helped me create the menus.